You can’t compare the two services.
They’re different.

7 days after the launch of Facebook Places, I do not think it will replace foursquare. Not yet. A quick scan of my Newsfeed tells me, the majority of my own friends aren’t rushing to check-in and share their location everywhere they go.

As a web consultant, naturally, I wanted to just observe first- use it myself, then form my own opinion(s). Personally, my own circle of friends are still turning to foursquare for real-time location updates even after the launch of Facebook Places (it’s too soon to form conclusions). Here are my initial observations:

• Because users do not have an expectation that Facebook is a source for real-time social networking, FB Places isn’t being used the same as foursquare, therefore not replacing it. Not yet. FB will have to redesign it’s mobile application interface and website to make it easier to find location information if they want more people to use Places.




• Foursquare is inherently a real-time platform. Think about it: users have the expectation when they open the app, the information they’re seeing about their friends is real-time. Foursquare highlights data about your friends over minutes and a few hours. That’s a big difference in utility and usage when compared to Facebook. “Top News” on FB can be delayed by over 20+HRS in showing you updates.

The fact is, location-based social networking is still foreign concept to most. 84% have not even heard of foursquare, Gowalla or Brightkite. And FB Places is only on the iPhone and Touch devices. This means, this 500 million other people on Facebook, like my mom, aren’t going understand how to use this feature right away. It’s going to take time.

The initial launch of Facebook Places could have been annouced as BETA, because the features set is lean. But that’s the point. They have made it simple and easy for everyone to first understand. While most people might not initially use it, they’re introducing the concept. Let people get comfortable and socialized with it. Then, over time, I believe they’ll draw perpetual attention as they release new features and enhancements. Make no doubt there’s big plans for how to draw more people into finding value with using FB Places. It will be fun to see how things shake out.

Until then, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a bit annoyed having to check-in two places now What do you think? Are you using it? What are your thoughts? Share them, good and bad.
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Facebook Places launched tonight, and this blog post is intended to provide you with a 1-minute read about the new update. Most importantly, I have recommendations for your privacy settings you should look at before you get started using this new feature.

• Facebook Places is a feature within Facebook that is very similar to Foursquare and Gowalla.




• You can check in on Facebook, through the iPhone app, just like Foursquare and Gowalla.




• You can also check in and post to Facebook Places -using- Foursquare and Gowalla.




• There are no “Mayors” of locations.




• There are no “Badges”, “Pins”, or “Points”.




• When you check in you can tag your friends and check them in too.




• Just like Foursquare, you can leave comments at specific locations. When you check in, if any of your friends have been there, you will see their comments (just like Foursquare).




• Applications and websites that utilize Facebook, can and will be able to utilize your location check-in data if you approve it in your settings.




• Businesses and companies CAN claim their locations on Facebook Places.





• For businesses and company locations, there WILL be a “Like” button on the page. So upon check in, you can “Like” their page and get updates.





• FAQs for Facebook Places
• Article: “The Implications of Facebook Places” (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Article: “Facebook Places: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and Why It May Change the World” (Forrester)

Security and Privacy
I suggest that you check your privacy settings right now for Facebook Places (click ‘Account’ in the top right, then ‘Privacy Settings’):

1.) Review the privacy setting for “Places I check in”. By default, it’s set to Friends Only.

2.) *I would recommend changing the setting for “Friends can check me into Places” to be DISABLED*. Personally, I want to be in full control of disclosing my location. I would not feel comfortable allowing others to do this for me on my behalf. Not that I have anything to hide, but I can see how this feature would get abused and others could check you into places.

3.) Review if you would like your name to appear on the “People Here Now” screen when your friends check in at locations.

I enjoy a good podcast. They are a great way to keep to learning from others and stay informed. I usually listen to when I’m driving to work or doing something around the house (e.g. like folding laundry or cleaning). The problem with podcasts or radio shows? You have to remember to sync, download them, or stream them individually via the iTunes store app or go to a website to listen.

My friend Neal, shared with me an iPhone/Blackberry /Android/Palm app that I love, called Stitcher. This app lets you listen to podcasts on-demand (no syncing or downloading required). What’s really slick about this app is you can sequence the order in which you want the podcasts/radio shows to continuously play. Essentially, you can piece together a custom playlist. Then, at anytime, you can pause, fast-forward, rewind, and jump to any of the Podcasts you’d like. If you like NPR as much as I do, they have many of their programs broken-out by segments. For example, I have the business segment on my favorites- which I typically I miss in the morning, because it’s only on at 8:50AM.

You can see in the screenshot, my favorites playlist has a variety of topics on it. However, I was a frustrated to find that the catalog of podcasts is not the same as the iTunes store. I wish it was integrated (which might not be possible). In retrospect, there are great shows on Stitcher that you can’t find on iTunes. Here are other shows on my favorites you can’t see on the screenshot:

• Stuff You Missed in History Class
• Chris Pirillo
• The Wall Street Journal Report
• ESPN Radio: SportsBeat with Mike Tirico
• NPR: Fresh Air Podcast
• PRI: Whad’Ya Know?
• NPR: Car Talk Podcast
• Mac Tips Daily!
• Techcrunch Headlines

If you like podcasts, or listen to news segments frequently, check out this app. You can download “Stitcher” in the iPhone app store for free. It has a 4.5 start rating. Go to the Stitcher website to download it for Blackberry, Android, and Palm.
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A client recently told me they were concerned they didn’t want to “clutter” their Tweet stream. They were concerned they didn’t want to Tweet too much.

My thoughts? No one reads all your Tweets.

Twitter is a communication tool.
…not a publishing platform.

Twitter is for holding conversations.
…and to have real dialogue and interactions without physical time and space constraints.

In the early years of Twitter (2006-’08), people actually read ALL the Tweets from the people they followed. Twitter was new, fun and only the geeky early adopters were experimenting with it. Today, the average person follows 100+ or 1000+ of people. To physically read and consume the Tweets from that many people is impossible. And more importantly, it doesn’t happen.

Twitter is like gigantic gushing stream or river of many things…
It’s filled with link referrals, pictures, thoughts, opinions, and conversations (look at this- click this- read this- watch this video-). This tool has evolved to this incredibly fast moving “river” of content. People do not consume all of it. Instead, it’s people jump-in-and-out of “the river”.

If no one reads all your Tweets, what should you do?
The more you communicate and appear within Twitter river of content, the better. On a day-to-day basis, people log-in and log-out of Twitter using multiple types of tools and at different times. People will open Twitter when they’re at work, check the latest Tweets, then their @replies, and log-out. Some people will turn their phone on, launch an application, read their Tweets and @replies and then log-out.

My point is, Twitter is flooded with content, what people see come through on their stream is dependent upon the time of day. Your followers will not see everything you post. The more you Tweet, your chance of being “noticed” in the huge river of Tweets increases.

@replies are the “email” of Twitter
Recently, I blogged about a study that found the first thing people do when they sit down at a computer is check their email. In the same respect, the 1 thing everyone checks when they login to Twitter is their @replies. People do want to know if anyone is talking to them. If you or your company had unlimited time and resources, I would tell you to Tweet as many relevant @reply interactions or DMs with as many people as you possibly could. As a general rule of thumb, when you login to Twitter, spend as much time as you can to @reply and interact. Twitter is worthless if you aren’t able to augment existing relationships or create real interactions with people of like interests. While you can use Twitter as another publishing platform, its biggest value is having real interactions through @replies with real people.

Time of day DOES matter.
The chances of anyone consuming your Tweets after 5PM on a weekday or over the weekend are less likely to happen than if you send a Tweet between 9AM to 5PM on a weekday. In my client work experience with Twitter and my own personal usage, there are more interactions and greater chance for consumption that occur Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. As a general rule of thumb, if your Tweet isn’t dependent upon time, or in response to a specific Tweet- you should tweet between 9AM to 5PM on a weekday. If you’re too busy to Tweet 9AM to 5PM, use a tool like Hootsuite that allows you to schedule your Tweets.

Twitter sucks if your friends suck.
Twitter is only as valuable as the people you choose to follow. If the people you follow provide value, then Twitter is a valuable resource you’ll keep using. You’ll keep coming back to it for more. Tweets also need to be timely, relevant, and/or provide some kind of value.

The next time you’re sitting in front of the open-ended prompt that reads, “What’s happening?” you should dismiss the notion that everyone is actually reading everything you’re Tweeting. They’re not.

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Do you spend too much time on Facebook? Wish there was a way to avoid the addictive time-suck of endlessly looking at photos, status updates, and funny cat videos people are posting? (yikes, I sound like an infomercial don’t I?)

I believe 15-minutes is all you need to catch-up on everything that’s going on with your friends on Facebook. What is the secret? Two words…

Friend Lists.

If you take the time to setup and configure personalized Friend Lists, your daily dose of Facebook will be forever easier (and you can thank me later ). You’ll find yourself spending less time sorting through the mess of friends, fan pages and co-workers that junk up your FB homepage Newsfeed. Friend Lists make it greatly easier to consume Facebook.

What is a Friend List? It’s simple. It is a customized list in which you choose how to sort and customize. You can have up to 100 Friend Lists with a maximum of 1,000 people per lists. As an example, I’ve taken a screenshot of my lists setup for my account (see image below on the right).

Once you setup these lists, you’re able to quickly digest a TON of information in a few minutes about specific types of friends just by clicking the filters on the left. Here are some of my favorite lists I use:

“Bloggers/Influencers”
I created this list to segment people who have influence online (in my opinion). These friends are typically content creators and publish frequently. They have a huge following and community online. For me, it’s nice to have them in 1 bucket for consumption to see what they’re publishing.

“Favorite Fan Pages”
This is a great way to pull-out and segment Fan Pages so you just get updates from all the Fan Pages you really care about (since we’re all guilty of clicking “like” to more companies and businesses than we actually want to follow).

“Kansas City Fan Pages”
I find this useful and relevant based on when I’m in the mode of “looking for something to do in my city”. Particularly, I find myself looking at this on Thursday and Fridays when making weekend plans.

“Circle of Trust”
This is where I start first everyday. It is a small group of about 30′ish people who I really care to read their status updates and posts. If I only have 5-minutes to check Facebook because I’m busy, this is the only Friend List I look at.

I also have these lists which I use:

“Family”
“Work”
“People I Don’t Know”
“High School Friends”
“Phi Delta Theta”
“Online/Internet Friends”
“Clients”

iPhone App

Friend Lists will appear on your iPhone as well! (comes in handy when you only have a few minutes to catch-up via mobile). Just tap the button in the top right. The FB app will pull-in and display all your Friend Lists. How cool is that!?

Send a Message to Friend Lists

You can send messages to all the people you’ve put in a Friend List. This is extremely helpful, because essentially it’s a way to create “groups” for Facebook messaging. Note: the maximum number of recipients you can send is 20, so you will not be able to send a message to any Friend List that contains over 20 people. When you send a message to a Friend List, the message will show all the recipients’ names, but the title of your Friend List will never be visible to other members of Facebook (incase you’ve got them categorized as “people that annoy me” ) .

Send Event and Group Invites with Friend Lists

On any Group or Event page, you can type in any Friend List name and they all will be invited. Another great “group” feature to send to multiple people easily.

Now go get started! I promise, once you take the time to setup Friend Lists, your life on Facebook will be changed for the better (dramatic yes, but I speak the truth …promise!)

Here is how you create a friend list:

Click “Friends” on the left menu. Then click the “Create New List” button (top right).

1. Type the name of your list and press enter.
2. Add friends to the list by typing their names into the “Add to List” field or by clicking them from the list.
3. Select “Create List” to save your changes (*this is important, it’s easy to forget to click save*)

Still confused? Facebook has an entire FAQ help section you can reference.

BONUS TIP: I’ve really been digging a website called www.itstrending.com which tells you the videos, images, and news that’s being shared the most on Facebook. Check it out.

Hopefully this walk-through helps you! If you’ve got other Facebook time-saver times, share them with me in the comments. Do you use Friend Lists already? What categories are you using for your friends?
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Everyday I find myself with at least 1 message in my inbox asking “What tool do you use?” or “What website do you use for X or Y”. This blog post outlines what websites, apps, and equipment I like to use. This is a “living” blog post that I update as things shift. I started this blog post in July of 2009 and updated it in January 2010. This is the most recent update.

Websites:

YouTube – main channel in which I post all my video blogs
Vimeo – secondary place in which I redundantly post some of my video blogs, HD quality here is much better than it is on YouTube
Wordpress.org – blog software I use
gMail – my primary personal email
TweetDeck – the app I use at home for Twitter, I use the crap out of the filters functions
Tweetie – the app I use on my iPhone for Twitter
HootSuite – the app I use at home for Twitter, I love the filters and the ability to schedule tweets
GelaSkins – I’ve got one of these on all my stuff. I’m really into the art community
Netvibes – this is my preferred RSS reader when I’m at a computer
Google Reader (mobile) – this is what I use on iPhone to read RSS
Delicious – I bookmark everything I find interesting here
VerticalResponse – my email marketing software

Photography:

Adobe Elements – my photo imaging editor
Adobe Photoshop CS5 – my photo imaging editor
Flickr – I upload and post all my public photos here

Video Software:

Adobe Premier – my preferred video editing software (this may change very soon)
Final Cut Express – my video editing software I use for my video blogs

Music Websites:

Grooveshark – the ‘google’ of music searching. I use this to quickly preview songs.
The Hype Machine – a great music website that aggregates popular remixes and songs people are blogging about or posting to Twitter.

Video/Digital Cameras:

Canon SD750 – this is the point and shoot I use
FlipMinoHD – this is the camera I use to shoot my video blogs
Canon HF21 – this is the camera I use to shoot my video blogs
Canon 40D – this is the DSLR camera I use to take my photos
Canon S90 – this is the point and shoot I use when my 40D is to big to carry around

Computers:

Mac Pro (desktop) – this is my computer I use at home
Macbook Air (laptop) – this is what i use on the road
iPad (tablet) – i use this everyday as a my “in-between device”

iPhone Apps:

HootSuite – the app I use on my iPhone for Twitter
Sleep Cycle – a “smart” alarm clock that charts your sleep and awakes you in your lightest sleep cycle. i blogged a review about this app.
Weather Channel – weather reports
Hipstamatic – a stylized camera app that applies different effects to photos
CameraBag – great ‘quick-touch-up-effects’ photos application
TwitPic – my favorite app to share photos on Twitter
TiltShift – great photo app for simulating a tiltshift lens for your photos
Photoshop Mobile – great photo app for cropping and applying different effects
Comic Touch – add fun captions, balloons or effects to your photos
SlingPlayer – this lets me watch LIVE TV via my SlingBox
Foursquare – my favorite location based social network of choice
Facebook – FB for iPhone
Mobile Fotos – my fav app for browsing my flickr photos because it’s faster than the official flickr app.
AOL Radio – while Pandora for the iPhone is awesome, sometimes I prefer simple categorized radio stations that AOL has.
Flixster – a must have app for reading user reviews from RottenTomatoes.com for DVDs and new release movies. I launch this app before I rent or go to the movies.
RedLaser – i love this app because it keeps me from impulse buying anything. This will scan the internet for better prices, for almost any product online.
Paper Toss – Warning! This game is addicting. Object of the game? You just throw paper wads into a trashcan.
Fling – great puzzle game that’s addicting
FlightControl – great ‘traffic control’ airplane game. Sorta like a puzzle challenge with different levels.
iTextSpeed – clock your typing speed on your phone! I can type 47 words-per-minute. Can you beat me?
WordsWithFriends – turned based Scrabble that lets you play a on-going game.
Ragdoll Lite – the point of this game is to throw a ragdoll. It’s simple, yet addicting.
EliminatePro – this game is awesome, it’s like Halo for the iPhone.

iPad Apps:

SlingPlayer – this lets me watch LIVE TV and control my DVR via my SlingBox
Paper Toss HD – Warning! This game is addicting. Object of the game? You just throw paper wads into a trashcan.
Eyewitness – a gorgeous photography app that showcases high-res newsworthy photos from the Guardian.
Netflix – AWESOME app to stream ‘watch now’ movies and update your movie queue on-the-fly.
ABC Player – I pretty much use this app exclusively to watch Modern Family
Echofon – My favorite Twitter app for the iPad. It’s light, simple, and fast. One of my favorite apps to use.
Reeder – A gorgeous RSS reader that integrates with your Google Reader account. I love this app.
Scrabble – i LOVE Scrabble, and this version for the iPad is great to play with friends.
FlickrStackr – my favorite app for browsing my flickr photos on the iPad.
Angry Birds – a fun, physics puzzle game
Pinball HD – great pinball game that’s visually impressive
Wordpress –  if you’ve got a Wordpress blog, this is great for on-the-fly blog posts. It’s awesome because it supports multiple accounts.

What’s on my screen during any given work day:
I open and close many websites and a few applications in the given day. Here are typically what you would find open if you were to walk up to my computer during the day. You might be surprised to find that I don’t keep either a Twitter, Facebook, or Gmail open at all times it’s true, I prefer to “dive-in and out” during the day when appropriate.

Firefox – my preferred web browser software
Google Chrome – my preferred web browser software
Outlook – work email
iTunes – music player
Textpad – I work in this religiously, it’s like my workspace to stub out anything (e.g. short-term lists, copy-paste storage, virtual post-it)

Some of you will find this blog post interesting- some of you will not. I’m hoping for some it will turn your head to maybe something you’re not familiar with to check out.
(photo credit = beautyinmetal)
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Today is officially Social Media Day! A day in which we celebrate the revolution of media becoming social. I think we all can agree, the advent of these social technologies, has changed the way we communicate. Both in our personal lives and for businesses, there’s lots to “thank” social media for.

[using my loud voice] HEY THANKS SOCIAL MEDIA!

A day like today, is a perfect time to step-back and think about why these tools are useful? Why have they changed the way we communicate?

These tools facilitate the notion of what is called, ambient intimacy. Ambient intimacy is about being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible. The advent of the internet, laptops and mobile phones with internet access make it even easier for us to “plug-in” to consume this information and use the social media tools. For example, on a daily basis:

• Facebook helps me see what my friends are thinking, doing, projects they’re working on and what they did this weekend.

• Twitter tells me what websites to check out and the opinions people have about news and current events.

• Flickr lets me see the latest family photos or pics from a recent trip. And it also shows me their latest haircut.

• YouTube makes me laugh, get inspired, or want to take action just by watching snippets and consuming quick- bite sized videos.

• Friendfeed tells me their activity stream of my friends online, what they’re looking at, and what they’re reading.

What does social media help us do? @leisa summarizes it well; It helps us get to know people who would otherwise be just acquaintances. It makes us feel closer to people we care for but in whose lives we’re not able to participate as closely as we’d like. Knowing these details creates intimacy (It also saves a lot of time when you finally do get to catch-up with these people in real life!).

Personal Life
When people have asked the ways social media has helped me personally- I point out that social media has the potential to significantly augment (not destroy or lessen) existing relationships you have with friends and family. However, like anything else- moderation is key, and you must understand how to integrate it appropriately. Once you do, it’s powerful stuff.

Businesses and Companies
For businesses, many are realizing there’s more than just a direct sale that can occur through the channels of social media. The path or continuum leading up to a sale, has many reassurance points along the way. Utilizing social media tools to serve as touchpoints on this path to the sale, that are non-commercial, is an effective way to accomplish things like trust, loyalty, awareness and building a relationship.

So take a moment today to say “thanks, social media”. These technologies can enhance peoples behavior for the better. How has it helped you? Share with me any success stories you have in using it. What do you like best about social media?
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There are 400+ million users on Facebook. I’d be willing to bet, of those 400+ million, most do not know the details about how Facebook was created. 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg launched the website in 2004, at Harvard, and the rest is just history. Right? (but saying that, would be the equivalent to say Tiger Woods is just a great golfer. There is a big- fat- juicy- gossipy- story to be told about FB). The arguably dirty shady interesting story behind the website, is unfamiliar to most. The site was originally called the www.thefacebook.com and some inspiration came from a dating website project he was working on. Also, if you’ve ever read the instant messages found on Mark’s computer, your judgment about Mark could change (if you’ve got 15min, the article is an interesting read).

All that said, the teaser trailer for the “The Social Network“, a movie about Mark and Facebook looks sounds pretty damn interesting (note: I am biased because I’m a geek). Watch the trailer and let me know what you think? It’s incredible to think the story about the creation of a website is compelling enough to make a major motion picture about it. It’s a sign of the times, right?

My iPhone has yet to officially arrive, but I’ve been hijacking my coworkers phones and putting the new iPhone 4 through some tests. One of the features I was really excited for was the video calling capabilities a.k.a. FaceTime. In 1-minute, watch me show you how to use FaceTime on the new iPhone 4. It’s pretty darn cool.

Last month I blogged about my feelings regarding the Facebook privacy settings updates mess. Recently, I was interviewed by Phil Cauthon, of the Lawrence Journal World (local newspaper in the area), and was asked to expand on my thoughts. The article is a good read highlighting different perspectives, in addition to my own regarding this topic. Check it out if you’re interested (photo credit: Dave Loewenstein).

>> You can read the full article here, on the LJWorld website.

It’s easy to criticize traditional media and tell them how bad they’re doing things (i’m guilty of that). But for a change of pace, I’d like to give a compliment to the New York Times. They’re doing something really smart on their website and I think you should take note.

“Every page is your homepage.”

This basic design principle I believe in (so does the company I work for). And that quote couldn’t be more dead-on. Why? More and more customers are going straight to specific pages of your website than your homepage. Just think of this real-world scenario:

1.) What’s the first thing most people do when they open their web browser? They search. Which means they go to Google or Bing.

2.) Then, they type and search for what they are looking for. And they get really specific. They don’t type things like just “BP”. They’re smart enough to search things like “BP oil spill“, because that’s what they’re looking for.

3.) Where do they land after they click-through on Google? If it’s a well designed website, they’re likely looking at the exact page they wanted, but it may not be your homepage.

So what happens next?

This is where the principle, “Every page is your homepage” comes in. And this is what I’ve recently noticed the New York Times does so well on its website. Take a look at the screenshot I took (below). This is an article I read after searching for something on Google. When you take your mouse and scroll down to the bottom of the page, a box with a link to a related article in that category appears (but only when you’re on the bottom).

What they’re doing here is simple, easy, and it’s smart.

The NYT design team has done a great job in designing a feature that takes into account the users behavior and effectively positions the related link at the bottom of the page to keep the user engaged, in hopes they continue to browse for more articles on the website (if you want to see this in action for yourself, click on this article and scroll-down).

Designing every page of your website to work just as hard as your homepage isn’t easy. But make sure you don’t overlook your interior pages. It’s arguable more important than your homepage. Does your website work this hard? How are you making every page your homepage? Share your tips in the comments if you got ‘em
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Here was my status update I posted yesterday on Facebook:

There have been recent Facebook privacy settings updates (more here), and I have a rant to get off my chest about this topic, RE: privacy. Some people who are furious about these changes, are even threatening to quit using the social network altogether (which makes me wonder if these same people, walk into other businesses that provide free services, and demand things be changed too, or else).

Given Facebook’s successes, reputation and track record, I believe as a company, they are working to provide features and functionality to be of best value to its users. At the same time, and more importantly, like any other business, they need to make a profit, so they are trying things to accomplish just that.

Some argue, then why aren’t they “listening to their customers?” I want to point out, Facebook has listened to it’s users when they complain. They have a history of it …for example; it’s the reason why you don’t see Facebook Beacon in existence today. Remember that feature when it launched? And it isn’t if they are hiding anything. They’re still listening. Zuckerberg recently shared with the Washington Post, “Sometimes we move too fast — and after listening to recent concerns, we’re responding.”

Do you remember when FB Newsfeed first launched? People hated it. Our “privacy” was invaded. We could suddenly track everything everyone did on FB. Fast-forward to today. No one thinks twice about it. We love it. FB is better because of it. They created this to better the website product, not because users demanding it.

Society, people, the masses, have all grown accustomed to sharing our lives with more people and “in public” as the technology has allowed it. FB is one of the front-runner’s leading and defining this shift …and I believe we are better because of it. I’ve connected with relatives, clients, friends on an on-going basis, enjoying real interactions with real people. My life is truly augmented because of it, not diminished. I think Facebook is awesome.

The customer doesn’t always know what he or she needs. And their ideas aren’t always right. Sometimes you have to illustrate and/or push it to them (e.g. advent of Newsfeed). Sometimes you have to show them why what you’ve created is valuable and why you should like it. This may be uncomfortable to think about, but do you remember when cellphones, email, Smartphones, and Twitter were first released? …those were all received with a strong degree of resistance from the masses too.

“Privacy the new hot pink. Out of style.” (@jowyang)

Do you agree with this? Have you quit Facebook yourself? (…or are people who do that just stupid) Are you concerned about privacy when using Facebook?

**UPDATE**
Here’s Facebook’s official blog post from Mark about the new privacy controls. They also posted a preview of the new very stupid simple controls to view and manage your privacy settings.

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This morning I checked-in using Foursquare at my local Starbucks and I noticed a bright yellow “promotion” icon on my phone. To my pleasant surprise, since I’m the Mayor of the Starbucks near my work, for my drug addiction loyalty I received $1 off a Frappuccino! How cool is that?! #geekpride alert! In fact, I was so proud + excited about the entire experience, I told everyone at work about it and posted it to my Facebook wall. Then it got me to thinking …imagine all the other people in other cities that reacted the same way when they had this experience today. Such a positive, fun, innovative, exciting promotion. Not just another typical boring paper coupon or email.

Here’s what it looked like on my iPhone:

Starbucks is certainly a brand that’s smart and what’s being classed by analysts as an “early adopter brand“. Their latest marketing promotion is integrated on two of the most popular location-based social networking websites Brightkite and Foursquare (I’m not sure why Gowalla was not apart of the campaign). Location-based social networking is about to change a lot of peoples lives …especially when it’s launched later this year on Facebook (i’m betting on it). It’s yet another exciting privacy shift that the masses will have to adjust to. It’s coming, and in a BIG way. And I love it.

“Privacy the new hot pink. Out of style.”
(@jowyang)

Do you agree? What do you think? Are you scared? Will you start sharing your location with your updates? Are you already using services like Foursquare or Gowalla? Do you like it?
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One of the few magazines I still subscribe to is Wired (cover-to-cover it has great content). Last night, while reading the “letters to the editor” section, I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if magazines let you @reply on Twitter to an article? Perhaps each article could have specific short #reference codes to include in your Tweet? It would be pretty slick to pickup a printed issue of Wired, and have a dedicated page with the best @replies from the previous issue. I’d certainly consider following people who sent smart @replies on Twitter. It would even add a new dimension to “letters to the editor” that doesn’t exist today, which is allowing readers to connect to other readers.

Let’s say you take it a step further, magazine websites could aggregated Tweet @replies in real-time to the articles. Imagine clicking a tab on an article, labeled “Tweet Comments”. Or make it even easier for readers to submit their @Tweet responses online by giving them an open text box to comment, and upon submit, the website would send the @Tweet reply and automatically insert the #reference code into their Tweet for them.

Now that would be cool. What do you think?
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Are you going to Free State Social? I’ll be there. It’s a social media conference being held in Lawrence, Kansas. Not only am I excited to be speaker, but I’m really looking forward to meeting many people IRL. All sorts of crazy important social media practitioners are going to be there, e.g. Chris Brogan, Jeremiah Owyang, Ellyn Angelotti, Shawna Coronado, Sarah Evans, Scott Raymond, Shea Sylvia, Zena Weist and Tony Botello. They’ve got all the info listed at www.freestatesocial.com.

note: if you can’t see the video blog I shot, click here to watch it!

*BONUS* Not everything is perfect when I’m filming, here’s some of the fun outtakes from filming the original video blog…